Chapter 20

Hyrule Coliseum expected visitors. This was clear from the blood-red strobe lights - stolen from the remains of former Air Guardians – that now dotted the walls of the newly reconstructed building.

Zelda, Queen of the Hylian Province, and her knight Link crouched in the darkness opposite the huge structure. Face bathed in its iridescent light, the young queen tapped away at her Sheikah Slate – now fully active again after the Ancient Sheikah's demise some eighteen months prior – and looked up. The path ahead was dark and quiet. Only the silent strobe lights made any motion, cutting scarlet trails across the rough, sandy ground. Zelda's silent knight watched, rubbing his chin.

"We're going to be late," she said. "For the wedding." She looked back down at the Slate and began swiping away on the screen. Scrolls and parchments she'd procured over the past few months flitted past. She'd marked the relevant passages in bright ink. Ganondorf Dragmire. Sacred Realm. Triforce. The image of this last one gave her pause. She'd seen it before, in the moments prior to her sealing the Calamity. She pursed her lips. So much left to learn. "I just thought you should know."

Zelda heard Link's heel grind against the hard ground as he turned to her. The night air felt chill against her skin. Still she didn't look up.

"The Slate," he said. "You're always on the Slate."

"I'll have you know," Zelda replied, eyes fixed on the screen. "That I am doing research. And, as the queen, no one can tell me not to."

The irony wasn't lost on her. She'd so long wanted to shirk her duties just so she could devote herself to her beloved studies. But now that she was the queen, all and sundry left her alone, free to indulge her intellectual pursuits at leisure.

"I'm telling you not to," said Link.

"I told you," she insisted, a playful smile in her voice. "No one commands me."

"I'm exempt."

Zelda raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?"

Link replied by leaning in and kissing her on the lips. Zelda closed her eyes and let the tingle of the kiss thrum down into her heart. Her hand went slack, and the Sheikah Slate slipped slightly in her grip. She pushed back with her mouth.

When they parted, Link smiled. "Really," he said. "Put the Slate away. It's time to move."

Zelda hummed a long-suffering sigh. "Yes, sir." She latched the Slate onto her hip, then smiled back and gestured with her hand. "Lead the way."

They set off. A moonless night cloaked them. Fifty yards separated them from the Coliseum gate. Forty. Thirty-five.

Link stopped. Zelda froze. The hum of a strobe light permeated the air. Too loud. Ergo, too close.

Zelda looked down. A ripple of crimson light kissed the tips of their boots, paused there for a pulsing heartbeat, then moved off. A long-held breath flew free from her lips.

They then took a jagged path in an attempt to avoid the spill of roving light the colour of blood. Zelda winced at that. Thinking of blood turned her mind back. She remembered Ganondorf's cold, cold blade as it had torn through her. Mipha had saved her – though she still wasn't quite sure how – but that hadn't stopped the nightmares from persisting.

The Coliseum loomed like a huge, stone sentinel. Dark shadows marked the gaps between the pillars. Zelda followed as Link danced around another pool of scarlet light. Black boots, black trousers and tunics of deep, midnight blue - they were both clad in the new Champions gear Zelda had had made.

A final sprint and they reached the gate. Iron bars, twenty feet in height, and buzzing with something that told Zelda exactly what it was that protected it.

She reached for the Sheikah Slate. "Allow me."

Purah had made some modifications to the tech. Now was the perfect time to test them. Zelda tapped away, then looked up. Nothing. She chewed on her lower lip and tapped away again. Still nothing.

"We're going to be late," said Link. "For the wedding." A pause, then, "I just thought you should know."

A slight frown rippled Zelda's features as she tapped the Slate again. "I think," she mumbled. "I liked you better when you had little to say."

The corner of her eye caught the creeping approach of pale red light from behind them. Her heart sped. Zelda's fingers worked furiously across the screen of the Sheikah Slate and –

A metallic clunk echoed through the night. The strobe lights all shut off in perfect unison. And then steel hinges squealed as the gate slowly swung open.

Zelda released yet another long breath. She felt Link's eyes on her. She waited. His posture didn't change.

"What?" she asked.

"I love you."

Her heart soared, and the words brought a faint smile instantly to her lips. "Well," she replied softly. "Quite right."

They took a step into the Coliseum. Starlight cast a faint glow onto the circular arena floor.

Zelda blinked. "Hello…?"

More huge lights, icy white, blazed into life. Zelda flinched. When her eyesight adjusted, she saw a mass of waiting people representing all the races of Hyrule.

One of them turned around. Tall, smiling, unmistakable.

"Ah ha!" said Prince Sidon. He held a glass of some sparkling, amber liquid in one hand. "I told you! What did I tell you?" He grinned as the people around him nodded. "The last to get here, but I knew it. I just knew they could do it!"

A cheer exploded from the rest. People began to stream toward them. Zelda recognised some of the faces – Impa, Bodho, Yunobo, Riju, Teba.

Zelda smiled. Link looked grim. The Queen of the Hylians leaned in.

"I believe at this point," she whispered. "You're supposed to smile."

Link's expression changed to a half-grimace.

Zelda sighed. "It'll do."

Prince Sidon raised his voice again. "Now why don't the two of you get changed?" he cried. "As will I. Then we can let this wedding commence!"

The upper tier of the Coliseum had been transformed into guestrooms. Wooden walls decorated with deep green ivy hemmed in Zelda and her knight. The Hylian Queen heard the murmur of voices from outside, merriment mixed with the clink of glasses.

They found their attire waiting in the cramped room. A full-length mirror, dresser and a small bed filled the rest of the space. Zelda held up a simple, yet elegant white gown up to herself as she looked into the mirror. A crackling torch cast the room in welcome light.

Zelda wished her mother was here with her. She didn't often think of her parents. Not that she didn't love them, of course. Thinking of them reminded her how much she did love them. A single regret burned in her heart.

Zelda dearly wished she could have had her time with her father once again. Just to have gotten it right. Not the manifestation of her power, or to show some aptitude for the burdens of ruling, but just so that she could have spent less time fighting him and more knowing and loving him.

Zelda set the dress aside, picked up a rubber bulb on the table beside, brought it to her neck and squeezed. A faint mist that carried the scent of flowers hissed into the air. She saw Link in the mirror, lying on the bed with his arms behind his head.

"Are you going to get ready?" she said. He didn't move. "You should get ready."

The knight then sat up. Zelda turned. He held out his hands.

"Now is not the opportune time," she said. "I'm sure they have a tight schedule to keep to."

Link beckoned with his fingers. With a sigh, Zelda walked over to him to take his hands.

And with a quick tug, he pulled her down onto the bed, twisting as she fell so that she ended up flat on her back. He held her down – gently, but firmly - by her wrists and then straddled her.

"Link!" she gasped in a voice that showed that she didn't mind at all. "They're waiting for us!"

"Let them." He lowered himself slowly to kiss her – long, lingering and tender. Drawing up one knee, Zelda wiggled to get more comfortable, then closed her eyes and sank into bliss.

Zelda, now in her white gown, fixed her hair for the last time, then opened the door. "Don't take too long," she called behind her as she slipped out. She raised her chin in as regal a manner as she could, then moved back down to the arena floor where songs were being sung as a Rito swayed to and fro with his accordion.

Zelda helped that no one would notice what she felt – that her face wouldn't betray the sweet soreness of her body.

"Weeeeelll," said a voice that brought her to a sudden stop. "You sure took your sweet time."

Hot blood rushed to Zelda's cheeks. Even after all this time, even after how intimately attuned she was to her knight and how all and sundry knew they were pledged, she still felt herself blush whenever anyone noticed their closeness.

"Hello, Purah," Zelda replied. Her eyes desperately searched for anything other than the gaze of the youthful looking old Sheikah. "It's nice to see you again, too."

"And where is Linkie?" Purah asked, the unmistakeable edge of mischief in her voice. "Sleeping…?"

Zelda nodded. A little too vigorously for comfort. "Long journey."

Purah held a knowing twinkle in her eye. "Mmm-hmm," she said. "Travelling can do that. So can a bit of snappity-snap behind closed doors."

"Oh, look," said Zelda. "It's Riju."

She made a quick getaway, threading her way through the crowd, but before she could reach the diminutive Gerudo Chief, the Rito with the accordion stepped into her path.

"Princess Zelda," he said, then winced. "Um. Queen."

Zelda waved away the correction.

"I apologise for the interruption," he said, not meeting her eyes. "It's good to see you. And I'd just like to further apologise for –for –"

"You're Kass, aren't you?" she said gently. "Link told me about you."

The Rito gave a miserable nod. "I'm Kass. Makata's student." He swallowed. "His only crime was that he loved you, My Lady."

Zelda soaked in the sounds of the open-air arena before she replied. "That's not a crime, Kass." Pity filled her heart. "However, how he acted on it was."

"As you say," the Rito said. "You are indeed wise."

"You have a family, am I right?"

Kass nodded again.

Zelda smiled. "Come and visit us in the castle," she said. "As my guests of honour."

Kass's eyes widened. "Thank you, My Lady," he breathed. "The honour is all mine. I'll compose a song just for the occasion. It'll be my masterpiece!"

"Thank you, Kass." Zelda looked past the Rito to see Riju waving at her. Her smile widened. "Now if you'll excuse me…"

A quick run and the Queen had Riju in a long hug. "Makeela," she said. "I'm glad you made it."

"I should say the same for you," Riju replied with a smile. "I mean, what was that that Sidon came up with? Guardian lights and electrified gates…?"

Zelda returned the smile. "He's partial to his games," she said. "He thought to show everyone just how amazing we were - his words, not mine. Allow him. It's a big day, you know."

Riju nodded. "He's right, though," she said. "I've heard that the speeches you give are very well-regarded. Amazing is what Buliara told me. You were a natural all along."

Zelda wasn't so sure about that. She'd come a long way, it was true, but her newfound confidence was more a question of practice. That, and the certainty she felt in Link's love.

The Gerudo seemed to notice her discomfort. "So," she said. "How goes the work in Castle Town?"

"Excellently," Zelda replied in relief. "Thanks to our two allies. The Gorons –" She glanced over to where a group of the miners, Yunobo and their chief Bludo in their midst, laughed and drank. "- And your Gerudo who help keep the peace."

"Don't get too comfortable," said Riju. "It's not permanent. Wouldn't want your people to think it was an occupation."

"Understood." Zelda took a deep breath to speak again –

When the young Gerudo cut her off. "Don't," she warned. "Don't apologise again."

Zelda couldn't help it. "You came to my aid, Riju," she said, her wide eyes earnest. "So many of your people died fighting at the foot of Death Mountain."

"That's how they like it," Riju replied with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I know it sounds strange to you, but dying in battle is the highest honour for a Gerudo." She paused, the sound of clinking glasses filling the emptiness, then said. "Besides. This Ganondorf Dragmire was born of the Gerudo. I feel responsible."

"You shouldn't," said Zelda. "It had little to do with you."

"Still," Riju replied. "I'm glad we are allies now."

Zelda grinned, and hugged her once more. "As am I," she breathed. "As am I."

They spoke for a while longer about something and nothing, idle talk interspersed with more about the ancient scrolls Riju's people had unearthed, scrolls that revealed more of the history of the King of Thieves. Zelda had known that Ganon had a dark past, had infected Hyrule time and time again, and had mistakenly believed that he had given up on being reborn in anything other than a Calamity. She hadn't know that the Calamity had originally been born of the Gerudo, Ganondorf.

One day, she thought. One day I will unravel the truth in its entirety.

As Zelda parted from Riju to mingle, she heard Kass's accordion flare up again with a jaunty tune. The loud voices of Gorons singing followed. She smiled, and thought about her fledgling Hylian Province. Her home.

Hyrule Castle once again stood in all its splendour. Zelda would awaken every morning to the sound of sawing and hammering as Hylians – led by Bolson Construction and their newest member Jadson – along with Gorons worked together to restore the town. The streets were already bustling, the last trace of rubble and Guardian debris long since cleared away.

The Gerudo had pledged themselves to her as allies. The Gorons had followed suit after witnessing, from the confines of their city, Link and Zelda's actions in the Battle of Death Mountain. Still the Rito and Zora held themselves at arm's length, impervious to Zelda's sweet overtures.

Thinking of the Rito made Zelda search out their Champion. "Teba," she said upon finding him. A glance told her that the Rito Chief Kaneli was also here. "He came, then?"

"Yeah," Teba replied. "Nothing to do with me, though. Think he has a soft spot for you."

Zelda sighed. "And yet he doesn't wish an alliance…?"

"Give it time," the Rito said. "Have patience."

Zelda smiled, as she often did these days. "It's quite alright. I believe."

And she did. Doubt no longer held its poison grasp over her heart. She was willing to wait.

Teba nodded over to where King Dorephan of the Zora stood with Muzu. "The fact that he was willing to be in the same place as those Zora," he said. "Well, that's something."

"It's a start," said Zelda. "That we're all here together is a start."

There was a commotion in another part of the huge torchlit arena floor. Zelda turned to see the crowd part – and there he was. Link, dressed in a white tunic trimmed at the hem, neck and wrists in black, complimented with a pair of white trousers. She grinned and ran up to him.

"You're looking very handsome," she said as she took his hands.

Link smiled and said nothing. She hadn't expected him to. Zelda gazed into his eyes –

When Impa sidled up beside them and noisily cleared her throat. She raised her voice. "The bride and groom are here!"

They all turned – and so did Link and Zelda.

A smiling Paya, in her long, flowing wedding dress of green, looked radiant as she swept into the arena, arm-in-arm with a proud Prince Sidon draped in an ill-fitting suit of Zora armour that the young Sheikah woman had painstakingly made for him. Cheers erupted. Zelda even saw Impa wipe away a tear.

The Sheikah Elder coughed, her voice thick. "The pledge!" she cried. "Let them make the pledge!"

More cheers cascaded around the Coliseum. And make the pledge they did – Paya in her halting, blushing manner with Sidon encouraging her at every step by a quick squeeze of his arm around her shoulders, and the Zora prince with his clear, confident voice.

Zelda leaned in towards Link. "I can tell you're getting emotional," she said. "You only look half bored."

He turned to her and smiled. "Am I that bad?"

Zelda reached up on the tips of her toes to kiss him on the nose. "Your flaws make you perfect."

Link grimaced. "I'm that bad."

Zelda grinned.

The celebrations began in earnest then. Laughing, cheering, joy and warmth. Zelda, Queen of the Hylians, looked around at all the smiling faces – Hylian, Gerudo, Zora and Goron; rulers and chiefs, the ordinary and the extraordinary – and felt the tide of hope rise in her heart.

She took Link's arm and laid her head to rest against his shoulder. Zelda smiled.

All was well in Hyrule.

A/N: Ta-daa! And there it is, my friends, my take on a fuller ending for Breath of the Wild.

If you argue that BotW was mainly piecing together Zelda's story as seen through Link's eyes, then this fic was Link's story seen mostly through the eyes of Princess Zelda. I say 'mostly' as I didn't want to ignore both Paya and Mipha, who both, to varying degrees, held Link in high esteem.

The cutscenes (as opposed to his in-game reactions) made a point of mentioning Link's silence (from Urbossa in the past to Teba in the present) and he always looked so painfully stoic. Yeah, there's an in-game reason for his silence, but it wasn't very convincing to me. And so Silent Knight was born and, yes, I decided to make Link full-on depressed.

Perhaps a fanfic based on a video game isn't the best place to portray depression, but I've always liked to explore alternative issues in my stories. For anyone that has had depression, the fic certainly wasn't meant to make light of it, or to suggest any miracle cure.

I guess now I should explain some of the narrative choices I made – since people kept calling me up on it, it probably means I've messed up somewhere in the text itself. Sigh. Here goes:

A few of you had issues with the pacing of the previous chapter. There was no rush to get to the climax, I assure you. The narrative context was simply this: Zelda would have bled to death (takes less than 15 minutes, apparently) had a resolution not presented itself. Zelda's inner dialogue was meant to convey this. Is that level of realism necessary in a story like this? Perhaps not, but I like to have the story have some sort of grounding.

Chapters 18 and 19 were originally intended as one chapter. As it became clear that it was getting too long, I decided to split them. Perhaps reading them altogether will help with the pacing and tension; after all, the whole thing was meant to be the 'final battle.'

One person didn't like Link's father being the chosen knight to Zelda's mother. The idea here was to flesh out what Zelda said in the Shelter from the Storm memory about Link following in the footsteps of his father. True, it didn't have to be interpreted in that particular way, but the inspiration was from the game. It wasn't intended to undermine Zelda's jealousy at Link being chosen over her.

That being said, you can't please everybody. I hope most of you liked most of the story! I'm done for now. There's still plenty of stuff that could be mined for fanfic in the game. Teba's an interesting character that could do well in a stand-alone story…

But thank you all, and for now, I bid you farewell

Split